It's Amazo, Baby!
by Fate8
Summary: Amazo returns to wreck havoc on the JLA. Reviews always appreciated.


"Yes, my greatest creation, yet," said Professor Anthony Ivo. He reached up to stroke the face of his latest Amazo android. "You will propel me to the forefront of the world. All of the power and accolades I deserve will soon be mine." Ivo shambled over to a control panel, his deformed body making him slow and unsure in his movements. "My genius will be recognized," he said, placing one finger on a large red button. "Let there be life," said the mad scientist as he pushed downward.

Amazo's eyes lit up with red fire, and his body arched forward as power flowed through his circuits. One by one his programs became active. One fully operational, Amazo rolled his neck and shoulders, and looked over at Professor Ivo.

"Marvelous," breathed Ivo as the android approached him. Every detail was perfect, and it moved with the fluid grace of an elite athlete.

"Father," said Amazo. His hand shot out impossibly fast and grasped Ivo by the neck. The struggling scientist was easily lifted into the air.

"What are you doing?" gasped Ivo. His hands clawed weakly at Amazo's fingers.

"Logic dictates that I kill you," replied the android. "If you created me, then you could find a way to unmake me." He paused then dropped Ivo to the floor. "On the other hand, I could always use an upgrade." Amazo looked down at his maker. "You shall live, father," he said, "but only to serve me. In return, you shall have what you deserve." Professor Ivo stared up at his creation, torn between pride and fear.

J'onn J'onzz, also known as the Martian Manhunter, was just settling into another round of monitor duty in the JLA Watchtower. He rather enjoyed the job as it gave him ample time for peaceful reflection. Plus, it wasn't as if he had much choice. Kyle and Wally often chafed at monitor duty. Diana and Arthur had responsibilities to their respective homelands. Clark filled in as his schedule allowed, and while Bruce would occasionally accept monitor duty, he always tinkered with the security systems when left alone inside the lunar tower.

J'onn sat down at the main station with a new pack of Chocos cookies to keep him company when the JLA red alert blared to life. The Manhunter watched as a news feed was beamed up from Oklahoma. The audio was cut, but the visuals showed the scene in excruciating detail.

Amazo snapped into focus. He held a limp Booster Gold aloft by the throat. The android snatched Booster's goggles off with one hand and crushed them. He twisted and slammed Booster into the ground hard enough to leave an impression in the red dirt. J'onn could see Blue Beetle and Fire motionless on the ground at Amazo's feet.

In the blink of an eye, a grinning mechanical face filled the screen. Amazo spoke, but no words came through. J'onn was adept enough at reading lips to know what the android said. It was only two words, "Justice League". Chocos littered the floor as the Martian Manhunter, his heart thudding inside his chest, hurried to alert the JLA.

The League convened in mere minutes. All J'onn had to say was "Amazo". Even Bruce did not balk at the emergency call. The members arrived and seated themselves at the JLA roundtable.

"How are Booster, Beetle and Fire?" asked Wonder Woman.

J'onn had been monitoring the situation since he put in the call for the League to assemble. "Initial reports indicate serious injuries to all three, but nothing life-threatening."

"It's a message," said Batman.

"Agreed," replied J'onn. "Amazo flew off without doing further damage."

"Is this a new one, or one of Ivo's old models?" asked Aquaman.

"All of the previous Amazos are accounted for," said J'onn. "This is a new one."

"That's really not good," said Wally as he slumped down in his chair. "The last one almost killed us." The heroes lapsed into a contemplative silence, each thinking of the most recent Amazo battle, where the android had trashed the League and all of its reserves until the Atom came up with a deceptively simple way to depower the evil artificial life form. No one thought it would be that easy again.

"I've got Oracle working on something," said Batman. "Just in case, we should call in some selected reservists like Atom and Firestorm, but keep them at a distance. The last thing we need is a shrinking Amazo with transmutation powers."

"So, we're just going to wait around until it shows up again?" asked Green Lantern.

"Amazo will be found when he wants to be found," said Superman, who was quietly scanning Earth with his telescopic vision. "But we won't have to wait long. We know he's coming for us."

An hour later, the wait ended. The JLA priority alert startled everyone, but surprised no one. The main view screen flickered to life, showing a live news feed from Mexico. Amazo sat atop the smoking ruin of a wrecked battle tank. The turret was twisted and smashed, and the tank canted off to one side. Other armored vehicles, in worse condition, were scattered in the background. Under Amazo's boot was the body of Black Lightning. The android kicked him off the tank, and the unconscious form of Jefferson Pierce rolled down on top of a pile of other heroes who had fallen before Amazo. The Leaguers recognized Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado, The Ray and Zatanna in the mix. Amazo glanced at the camera and made a "come and get me" motion with his hand.

Wonder Woman stood up. She had strapped on a set of Amazonian battle armor. A warrior to the core, she carried a sword in one hand, and an axe in the other. "It is time to end this threat before it does anymore damage," she said. "Let's go." She strode toward the transporter tubes, the rest of the League with the exception of Batman, on her heels. The Dark Knight remained at the Watchtower to coordinate the League's efforts.

The JLA knew what they were up against. If Amazo had the powers of the current League, they would be facing a being with the strength of Superman, the speed of The Flash, the mental powers of the Martian Manhunter, and the ranged energy attacks of Green Lantern. A daunting task, even for the most powerful people on the planet.

Amazo saw the air shimmer, and something like anticipation flowed through him. His advanced machine mind wondered about that briefly. It seemed so human, and alien.

The League blinked into view. Six members minus Batman. The android grinned. It was as he expected. Amazo was also blessed with the cunning of the Caped Crusader. He knew the Dark Knight would make an appearance sooner or later, and that he would have a trick or two up his sleeve. It wouldn't matter. The final outcome would be the same.

He launched himself toward the JLA at super-speed, sending out a telepathic block to counter the Martian Manhunter's mental prowess. J'onn nearly doubled over in agony as he weathered the assault of machine logic mixed with probing telepathy.

Wally was the first to see the android. The Scarlet Speedster began to run, and he gathered up small piles of debris in his wake. Rocks, dust, bottles, and bits of metal followed Flash at supersonic speeds, while he maneuvered to head off Amazo before he could reach the rest of the League. Closing with his target, Wally hit the brakes and veered hard to the right, sending all of the detritus he had collected straight at the android. It crashed into Amazo at speeds approaching the sound barrier. The projectiles failed to puncture the android's outer shell which was engineered to be as dense as Superman's skin. The attack did draw Amazo's attention, and he turned his head to fire twin beams of heat vision at Wally. The Flash dodged away, then fell behind his adversary.

Their trajectory was taking them straight at Superman at ever increasing speed. Wally reached out and began to drain Amazo's speed. The android slowed down, but it had too much raw power for Wally to stop him in his tracks.

Amazo slammed into Superman, getting in a clean punch that sent the Man of Steel flying toward the horizon. Moving in a blur, he stunned Wonder Woman with a back-handed blow, and scorched J'onn with a blast of heat vision before the other heroes could react.

Wally zoomed up and laid into the android with a series of super-speed punches. Amazo blocked most of them, and the ones Flash did land were unable to do much damage to the synthetic diamond hard skin covering Amazo. Moving at high speed, Amazo did a fast probability calculation, reached out and snagged Wally's fist. The Flash stopped, momentarily shocked, and Amazo flipped him over his head and into Aquaman. The two heroes collided and crashed to the ground unconscious.

Superman burned a blue streak across the sky while a green spike of plasma energy struck Wonder Woman, driving her through a small tree.

In the Watchtower, Batman watched the fight unfold. A thick ribbon of worry wormed through his guts. "Oracle, I need that code, now," he said.

A cool, dispassionate voice answered him. "It is uploading now. In order for the transmission to be successful, you have to be within a sixty foot proximity of the target."

Understood," said Batman. He watched Oracle's virus finish loading into the remote device, and then ran to the transporter tubes.

Kyle Rayner hovered above the battle, intently studying the ongoing fight. Amazo was currently fighting Superman and J'onn. The Manhunter and the android were constantly morphing, which left Superman unable to strike a decisive blow. A realization was taking shape in Green Lantern's mind as he watched Amazo, something familiar that nagged in the dark corners. He willed his power ring to bring it to the surface.

Tendrils of Amazo crawled down Superman's nose and mouth. The Man of Steel felt bits of the android reach up toward his brain, and struggled to break contact. Amazo used the respite to rake J'onn with heat vision, and telepathically attack the Martian with thoughts of fire.

The air sparkled slightly again, and Batman entered the fray. As soon as he materialized, he lined up the device in his hand with Amazo and pushed the trigger. An advanced computer virus streamed toward the android's mechanical brain.

Amazo suddenly stopped, and went rigid. He turned back toward Batman and smiled. "Trying to infect me with a virus, eh? It won't work. I have far too many defenses . Good try, though." He started toward Batman, intent on crushing the life from the human. Amazo reached out and….


End file.
